Articles about Tesla

Elon Musk thinks he can increase the speed of his Tesla production line in Fremont, California by 20X. I find this an astonishing concept, but Musk not only owns a car company, he also owns the company that makes the robots used in his car factory. So who am I to say he’s wrong? And if he’s right, well then the implications for everything from manufacturing to the economy to geopolitics to ICBM targeting to your retirement and mine are profound. We may be in trouble or maybe we’re not, but either way it’s going to be an interesting ride.

My friend Jerry Kew from the UK brought this article to my attention in which Elon Musk says he expects to increase the speed of his Tesla production line from the current five centimeters per second to one meter per second. Here’s Jerry’s back-of-the-envelope calculation of what this means:

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Aspiring drivers may be more conservative than you think when it comes to electric and self-driving cars. According to a new report by Elegant E-Learning, most of the folks studying for their drivers license are still very much interested in petrol-powered cars and have concerns about the benefits of self-driving vehicles.

Elegant E-Learning polled over 200,000 aspiring drivers in US, UK, Canada, and Australia and discovered that, if given the option between an electric and a petrol-powered car at a similar price, over 60 percent would opt for the latter. And that's interesting, because most respondents are Millennials -- they make up between 67.9 and 75.1 percent of the polled folks -- a group that is well known for its affinity for technology.

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Think of electric cars, and it's Tesla that naturally springs to mind. But Geely, the Chinese parent company of Volvo, wants this to change. Today the company launches a new car brand, LYNK & CO, along with not just a new electric vehicle, the 01, but a whole new ownership model.

The 01 -- which will be followed, of course, by the 02, 03, and so on -- is a compact SUV designed for sharing, and it even has its own app store. With connectivity in mind, the 01 has an open API so developers can get to work creating their own apps. Partnerships with Microsoft, Alibaba and Ericsson led to the creation of the platform, and the vehicle offers Apple CarPlay, Mirror Link and Android Auto compatibility.

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The German government has labeled Tesla's use of the Autopilot name to describe its assisted driving technology "misleading" and asked the US car maker to stop using it in advertisements. The system is not currently completely autonomous, as it requires driver supervision, based on SAE standards.

"In order to prevent misunderstanding and incorrect customers’ expectations, we demand that the misleading term 'autopilot' is no longer used in advertising the system", says German transport minister Alexander Dobrindt. "Autopilot is a pure driver assistance program, and not a highly automated vehicle that can be operated without constant attention of the driver".

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Self-driving cars are undoubtedly the future. With that said, the future is definitely not now. The automotive industry has a lot of work to do before autopilot technologies become the norm. Quite frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if that is decades away. The technology as it stands won't work well in conditions like snow, while city infrastructure and insurance industries will have to be radically refreshed.

Some companies, such as Tesla, are banking on driver-assisted autopilot (not entirely autonomous), where the driver must be awake, alert, and ready to take the wheel if something goes wrong. Unfortunately, people have died from malfunctions or deficiencies in that company's technology. Today, Tesla announces a major change to its Autopilot in upcoming version 8.0. By increasing the utilization of radar, the company hopes to decrease fatalities when the Autopilot technology is in use.

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Tesla is buying SolarCity, a company selling solar power systems for homes and businesses. The electric car maker will shell out $2.6 billion (£1.97bn).

Tesla’s founder and CEO, Elon Musk, is the same person that is also chairman and the largest stakeowner of SolarCity. So basically, Musk is merging his two companies into one which will offer "end to end clean energy solutions". SolarCity was founded by Musk’s cousins, CEO Lyndon Rive and director Peter Rive.

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Elon Musk’s car company Tesla just managed to meet its low end production target during the final quarter of 2015. The company was only able to manufacture 17,400 of its luxury electric cars despite having previously projected that it would produce 17,000 to 19,000. Tesla did however reach its target for 2015 by delivering a total of 50,580 cars.

Tesla currently produces two models of electric cars: the Model S sedan and the Model X SUV. The Model S was introduced in 2012 and it has been well-received by both critics and consumers. The Model X SUV however, just began being delivered to consumers in September of 2015. Its production was delayed quite heavily due to various problems regarding how difficult it is to manufacture.

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A few days after it was released in the United States, the Autopilot feature for certain Tesla Model S cars is rolling out across most supported markets

Japan is the only market where Teslas can be bought but can’t use the Autopilot service, as the country is still reviewing the necessary regulations.

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When Tesla announced Autopilot, a new feature that allows its cars to drive themselves with no input from the driver, ex-Microsoft developer and geek-famous YouTube reviewer Barnacules Nerdgasm (AKA Jerry) decided to put the new tech to the test.

Not even 24 hours after the Autopilot was live, Jerry and his friend drove a Tesla P85D (and its 762+ horse power), on a 33 mile road trip to get familiar with the new technology. This is what he thought of it.

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Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk has been dropping quite a bit of shade on Apple over the past few months, claiming the company is a graveyard for sacked Tesla employees and that he is not afraid of a car built by the same engineers that created the Apple Watch.

On Twitter earlier this week, he backtracked on those claims, saying he does not hate the company. Musk said that Apple had a lot of talented engineers, the Apple Watch has an excellent design, and he is glad they’re working on an electric car.

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I love Elon Musk’s predictions, they’re always so optimistic about the future of the world. The latest such statement regards electric autonomous vehicles, when we might expect them to become more of a mainstream thing, and just how good they will be.

During an interview with a Dutch publication, he said that we can expect electric cars to go 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) or more by 2017 on a single charge. That’s more than double of what such cars achieve today.

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Tesla might face some real competition in the premium electric car market soon, with Aston Martin planning to launch an electric version of the Rapide and the DBX crossover.

Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer said an all-electric, 800 horsepower version of the Rapide would be available within two years. The car would have a 200-mile range, a bit lower than the current Model S.

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After three years of waiting, Tesla has finally set a launch date for the Model X. It will be shipping to customers on September 30, and arriving at show floors shortly after.

The Model X pre-orders started in 2013, with production set to start later that year. Sadly, Tesla went into a state of polishing for two years, where they didn’t want to release the car without making it perfect for the customer.

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Some more information has been revealed regarding Tesla’s latest automotive offering.

Elon Musk confirmed that the Tesla Model III will be able to cover at least 250 miles on a single charge, marking an improvement on the previously stated figure of 200 miles.

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has been revealed as the most influential technology leader by Juniper Research’s latest industry rankings.

The rankings are based on a number of factors, including vision, innovation and personal capital, and saw Nadella gain top spot as a result of the fundamental changes he is implementing at his company.

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